2012 Jets Offseason, my personal take

Ah, the offseason. One of my favorite times of the year where there is speculation aplenty and our beloved Jets are once again not to be seen in the big game. Everything is seemingly right in the world (except of course that Tom Brady, Bill Bellicheat, and those stinkin' Patriots are in the 'Bowl, again) Can somebody please tell me why Brady has not been sniped in the face retired already? All kidding aside of course, I would definitely NEVER want something like that to happen to any of the beloved Patriot players. Well, its times like this where I can just dream about the off-season with the 'who goes where' and 'what if's' of this team. It will take a great off-season by this organization to make us contenders in the playoffs next year, and with that I ask you to bomb Gillette Stadium take the jump and see what I believe would make this off-season a successful one for the New York Jets.

Hello again! Sorry about my violence earlier, damn turrets. On to business then shall we?

I will separate this into 3 distinct parts. Re-Signings/Cuts, Free Agency, and the Draft.

Re-Signings/Cuts.

Well, well, look what we have here. Solid contributors coming off the books and limited cap space. Where have I seen this before? Hmm..... Ah well, to hell with it. Let me first say that you greedy bastards that want Mr. Can't Wait's and Tone's heads will have to calm down. They will both be here next season due to dead money restrictions.

Our Free Agents: Sione Pouha, Plaxico Burress, LaDanian Tomlinson, Bryan Thomas, Jim Leonard, Nick Folk, Josh Mauga, Aaron Maybin (RFA), Brodney Pool, Robert Turner, Kevin O'Connell, Mark Brunell, Donald Strickland.

People that SHOULD be cut: Eric Smith, Wayne Hunter, Matthew Mulligan.

This should leave us with about 17Mil for the draft, Free Agency, and bringing back our own guys. So who do we bring back from this past year? Right away Pouha jumps off the screen. This man needs to be brought back. I'm tired of the front office letting impact players that have some form of leadership be shown the door. Pouha loves it here in New York and I am certain that he wants to stay here. He needs to be priority number 1. He is just too good to be let walk and Ellis is too raw still. I would offer him a 3 year deal around 4 mil per. Jimmy Leonard should also be brought back, if he can be kept on the cheap (1 mil) I also resign Mauga, Maybin, and Rob Turner to cheap contracts. I think that Pool might want more than we can spend so he needs to be shown the door. Burress and Tomlinson, I appreciate your contributions, but both of you guys' time has run out. Tomlinson, go back to San Diego and retire there man. Nick Folk, you suck. Learn how to kick a ball straight and not give people heart-attacks even if you make a kick.

So to recap: KEEP: Pouha, Leonard (only if very cheap), Mauga, Maybin, Turner

BID FAREWELL: Burress, Tomlinson, Thomas, Folk, Pool, Brunell, O'Connell, Strickland

Free Agency

So after 17 mil cap space, say we just spent 8 on our own guys. We will need about 5 mil for the draft which leaves us with around 4 mil for all of our holes. We need to get Sanchez to restructure if we have any shot at securing one of the premier safety's in free agency, or filling the needs elsewhere for that matter. Im going to be generous here and give us 7 mil for free agency after restructuring/Tanny Magic. My projected needs are now: RT, OLB, SS, FS, WR, QB, O-line Depth, TE, P, K.

Who should we pursue in free agency?

- Michael Griffin. Now guys, I REALLY REALLY want Griffin. Safety is one of our top 3 needs. But guess what: There is NO cap space. Barring a Tanny miracle, and some nice restructuring from Sanchez, this is not possible. If Tanny can make this happen, great! Awesome! I love you! But it won't. Here's what should happen:I do NOT want what happened with Nnamdi to happen here. Feel the market price, if its too steep, back out immediately and pursue somebody else. That somebody else, who can be had fairly cheap, is a man named Dwight Lowery.

- Brady Quinn/Chad Henne. Either one would suffice, really whoever will take the least amount of $ to be the backup to push Sanchez. Dennis Dixon would also not be a bad consolidation prize here.

- Braylon Edwards. If we fail to resign Edwards I will be very upset. Edwards SHOULD have been kept over Holmes, was great for Sanchez, and was exactly the big play receiver that we needed from this year. He should be relatively cheap, so we need to pounce on him ASAP.

- Max Starks. ONLY if healthy. I can tell you why: aside from tearing his ACL against the Broncos in that awesome playoff game (Tebow!!), Starks had a very good year. Now I am hoping that he will be able to recover in time for next season. He played LT for the Steelers last season but I believe he could do a serviceable job for us at RT. Not to mention, because of the injury, this man will be CHEAP. It is a risk, yes, but could pay off given our cap constraints.

- Mike Nugent. We need a kicker, badly. Looking at the list of kickers, he is the first one that I see that is not 80 years old or will definitely be retained (see Matt Prader, Connor Barth) I would not mind welcoming back Nugent to New York, he is at least an upgrade over Folk. Steven Hauschka is a RFA, wonder what the asking price would be for him?

I also firmly believe that T.J. Conley is NOT the answer as our punter. Ground and pound offense relies on good kickers to help them set up the offense, pinning back the opposing offenses on a consistent basis would greatly help our defense. Conley is still under contract, but I believe that we would be better off with a replacement. Who that is I am unsure of at this time, it is something worth looking into.

The Draft

Dun, dun, dun. (lower lights) "With the 16th pick in the 2012 NFL draft, the New York Jets select: Vernon Gholston v2" NOOOOOOOO. *huh?* oh sorry, nightmares. Glad thats over.

This is the part where its very hard to predict. I do not know any trade scenarios. I know what I would like. Whether or not this is possible, remains to be seen. I would like to trade down in the first round (not out completely) and pick up a later additional second rounder. Who would do this? No clue. But for arguments sake lets say it happens.

1st Round Pick: (trade down in 1st Round) Mark Barron- SS Alabama

Now, if Trent Richardson or Courtney Upshaw drop to us at 16, I believe we take either of them there. If they are both off of the board, we trade down and pick Barron where he should be picked instead of reach for him, and pick up an additional pick in the process.

2nd Round Pick: Vinny Curry- OLB Marshall.

Help out the pass rush with Curry who is a beast and should help the still anemic pass rush

2nd Round Pick: (Late in the round, from trade earlier): Nick Toon- WR Wisconsin

Why not? Holmes and Braylon are both 1 mistake away from missing significant time.(Notice I said SIGN BRAYLON) Not to mention injuries can happen. Toon provides Sanchez with another weapon and the team with a security blanket.

3rd Round Pick: Bobby Massie- OT Ole Miss

Massie has the size and work ethic to be successful. He was a beast at Ole Miss and could start Day 1 if needed. I believe he needs a little work but he will be a very good player.

4th Round Pick: LaDarius Green - TE L.A. Lafayette

Has size and quickness, and is a better blocker than Dustin Keller. He is 6'6, and gives us that 2nd TE that will be able to rival the Pats

5th- 7th Round: Again I do not have much experience scouting or noticing players that will make an impact. So I will not even try to come up with people that I have no idea who I am talking about. Some people are good with that, I am not. I know what to expect or have watched the previous picks that I mentioned. With that said I believe we should go with these picks by round based on need:

5th Round: DE

5th Round (Comp Pick) OL Depth

6th Round: CB

7th Round: S

That's all folks! Please criticize/critic below, again this is just my personal opinion, and just because your's might not exactly match mine, we all still want to see the Jets succeed next year! Go Jets!